Fighting Blood Cancers

Exceptional Excellence

My husband and I are at the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, 2nd Floor West Pavilion, and that means I am a cancer patient. And a lucky one at that, because my diagnosis, Non-Hodgkins Follicular Lymphoma, is an indolent cancer. If it weren't for a serendipitous surprise finding, I would still not know I have cancer. Anyway, I'm too busy to have cancer. Fortunately, my blood profile is excellent--normal--love that word, and so are all my other vital signs. Really, I would not know I have cancer if I had not been diagnosed. And that's the wonderful thing about my form of cancer; you live with it but you do not die from it. But you are never cured, either. So, that leaves my status uncertain. I am not a survivor, nor will I be, unless living makes it so. Technically, I'm not a previvor, because I do have cancer. Guess I am just someone fighting blood cancer, however gently, for the moment.

Industrial Brooms

I've been asked how I remain so positive, and the answer is I just am. Either you see the proverbial glass half empty or half full. I live knowing that half right is better than half wrong, so I am Pollyanna Positive. And that works for me. We are sitting in a room full of mixed emotions; some people like me have long hair--their own. Others have visible signs of post-treatment chemotherapy. Others barely contain tears, while I sit blogging. I know I am VERY lucky. Some day the shoe will fall, but I hope that if/when it does, I will still be the person taking photographs of the unusual sculptures that dot this magnificent open-airy building for people with serious illnesses. I hope I am the one who will still take joy in finding the half-right approach to life, as long as it lasts.

I think I will.